January 26, 2010
Alan Buis
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0474
alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov
Beth Hagenauer
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.
661-276-7960
beth.hagenauer@nasa.govRELEASE: 10-02
NASA AIRBORNE RADAR TO STUDY QUAKE FAULTS IN HAITI, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
PASADENA, Calif. – In response to the disaster in Haiti on Jan.
12, NASA has added a series of science overflights of earthquake
faults in Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the island of
Hispaniola to a previously scheduled three-week airborne radar
campaign to Central America.
NASA's Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, or UAVSAR,
left NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., on Jan.
25 aboard a modified NASA Gulfstream III aircraft.
During its trek to Central America, which will run through
mid-February, the repeat-pass L-band wavelength radar, developed by
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., will study the
structure of tropical forests; monitor volcanic deformation and
volcano processes; and examine Mayan archeology sites. After the
Haitian earthquake, NASA managers added additional science objectives
that will allow UAVSAR's unique observational capabilities to study
geologic processes in Hispaniola following the earthquake. UAVSAR's
ability to provide rapid access to regions of interest, short repeat
flight intervals, high resolution and its variable viewing geometry
make it a powerful tool for studying ongoing Earth processes.
"UAVSAR will allow us to image deformations of Earth's surface and
other changes associated with post-Haiti earthquake geologic
processes, such as aftershocks, earthquakes that might be triggered
by the main earthquake farther down the fault line, and the potential
for landslides," said JPL's Paul Lundgren, the principal investigator
for the Hispaniola overflights. "Because of Hispaniola's complex
tectonic setting, there is an interest in determining if the
earthquake in Haiti might trigger other earthquakes at some unknown
point in the future, either along adjacent sections of the
Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault that was responsible for the main
earthquake, or on other faults in northern Hispaniola, such as the
Septentrional fault."
Lundgren says these upcoming flights, and others NASA will conduct in
the coming weeks, months and years, will help scientists better
assess the geophysical processes associated with earthquakes along
large faults and better understand the risks.
UAVSAR uses a technique called interferometric synthetic aperture
radar, or InSAR, that sends pulses of microwave energy from the
aircraft to the ground to detect and measure very subtle deformations
in Earth's surface, such as those caused by earthquakes, volcanoes,
landslides and glacier movements. Flying at a nominal altitude of
41,000 feet, (12,500 meters), the radar, located in a pod under the
aircraft's belly, collects data over a selected region. It then flies
over the same region again, minutes to months later, using the
aircraft's advanced navigation system to precisely fly over the same
path to an accuracy within about 16 feet (5 meters). By comparing
these camera-like images, interferograms are formed that have encoded
the surface deformation, from which scientists can measure the slow
surface deformations involved with the buildup and release of strain
along earthquake faults.
Since November of 2009, JPL scientists have collected data gathered on
a number of Gulfstream III flights over California's San Andreas
fault and other major California earthquake faults, a process that
will be repeated about every six months for the next several years.
From such data, scientists will create 3-D maps for regions of
interest.
Flight plans call for multiple observations of the Hispaniola faults
this week and in early to mid-February. Subsequent flights may be
added based on events in Haiti and aircraft availability. After
processing, NASA will make the UAVSAR imagery available to the public
through the JPL UAVSAR website and the Alaska Satellite Facility
Distributed Active Archive Center. The initial data will be available
in several weeks.
Lundgren said the Dominican Republic flights over the Septentrional
fault will provide scientists with a baseline set of radar imagery in
the event of future earthquakes there. Such observations, combined
with post-event radar imagery, will allow scientists to measure
ground deformation at the time of the earthquakes to determine how
slip on the faults is distributed and also to monitor longer-term
motions after the earthquakes to learn more about fault zone
properties. The UAVSAR data could also be used to pinpoint exactly
which part of the fault slipped during an earthquake, data that can
be used by rescue and damage assessment officials to better estimate
what areas might be most affected.
For more on UAVSAR, visit: http://uavsar.jpl.nasa.gov .
For more on how UAVSAR is being used to study earthquake faults and
landslide processes,
visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2190 .
PHOTO EDITORS: Publication-quality photos to support this release are
available on-line at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/multimedia/imagegallery/G-III/index.html .
TELEVISION EDITORS: B-roll footage to support this release is
available on-line at:
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Movie/Gulfstream/index.html . Look
for videos EM07-0091-1 and EM07-0096-2.
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